NBC Severs Ties With Bill Cosby

As sex assault charges continue to emerge against aging comedian Bill Cosby, NBC has cut ties with the embattled star, dealing a blow to his dream of returning to network television in a new pilot project, the Huffington Post reports.

In November, NBC released plans to drop a pilot project, which had been in early development, and would have starred Cosby as the patriarch of a multigenerational family, the news outlet reports. But plans were put on hold as a steady stream of women came forward with accusations that the comedian raped or assaulted them.

Network officials recently revealed more details about what went in to the decision:

“When we realized there seemed to be so much more of it, it wasn’t something where we could go, ‘Oh, we’re not sure.’ He hasn’t been proven guilty of anything. I don’t want to be the one who says, ‘Guilty until proven innocent,’ but when that many people come out and have similar complaints, it causes such a tainted situation there was no way we could move forward with it.

The good news is, unlike Netflix which had a special to run, we were developing a script — we didn’t even have a first draft … I’m glad we’re out from under that.” (Netflix postponed its Cosby project, “Bill Cosby 77,” in November, before it was supposed to air.)